President Joe Biden announced Monday that he is commuting the death sentences of 37 of 40 men on federal death row.
Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Robert Bowers will be the three left on the federal execution list when President-elect Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding the death penalty, takes office on January 20.
Roof carried out the racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015. Tsarnaev was convicted of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing attack that killed three and injured more than 260 in 2013. Bowers killed 11 congregants after storming the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
In a statement, Biden said he was "more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level" and called the commutations "consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder."
He added: "Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss."
And in a swipe at Trump, he added: "In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted."
Dylann Roof
Roof, 30, carried out the racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015.
Intending to ignite a race war, the admitted white supremacist opened fire during a Bible study session at the church on June 17 that year, killing nine and wounding one other person.
He was convicted of murder and other offenses, including nine counts of racially motivated hate crimes resulting in death. He was sentenced to death in early 2017.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Tsarnaev, 31, was convicted of carrying at the Boston Marathon bombing attack that killed three and injured more than 260 in 2013.
His older brother Tamerlan died in a gun battle with police a few days after the April 15, 2013, bombing.
Tsarnaev was convicted of all 30 charges against him, including conspiracy and use of a weapon of mass destruction and the killing of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Officer Sean Collier during the getaway attempt. Prosecutors said the brothers carried out the attack to punish the U.S. for wars in Muslim countries.
A federal appeals court overturned Tsarnaev's death sentence in 2020, but the Supreme Court reinstated it in 2022. The appeals court ordered a judge in March to investigate the defence's claims of juror bias and determine whether the death sentence to stand, but Tsarnaev's attorneys are seeking to remove the judge, The Associated Press reported in August. If it is determined that the jurors should have been disqualified, the court said the judge should vacate Tsarnaev's sentence and hold a new penalty-phase trial.
Robert Bowers
Bowers, 52, killed 11 congregants in a shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on October 27, 2018. He also injured two worshippers and five police officers.
He had raged against Jewish people before storming the synagogue with an AR-15 rifle and other weapons in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
Bowers was convicted on 63 criminal counts, including hate crimes resulting in death and obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death. His attorneys had offered a guilty plea in exchange for a life sentence but prosecutors declined, choosing to take the case to trial and pursue the death penalty. A federal jury recommended that he be sentenced to death last year.
What People Are Saying
The Reverend Sharon Risher, whose mother Ethel Lee Lance and two cousins were among those shot dead by Roof, criticized Biden's decision to leave him on federal death row.
"I am happy for all those whose sentences have been commuted, and grateful to President Biden for this unprecedented act of mercy, but this is so unfair," Risher, who is board chair of Death Penalty Action, said in a statement to Newsweek.
"I need the President to understand that when you put a killer on death row, you also put their victim's families in limbo with the false promise that we must wait until there is an execution before we can begin to heal. Every time this case comes up, I am brought back to the day my mother and cousins were murdered, and I need that to stop."
She added: "Politics has gotten in the way of mercy. You can't rank victims, Mr. President. I am begging you to finish the job, not only with the three men left on federal death row, but also with those on the military death row. There's still time. Finish the job."
Other death penalty opponents also called on Biden to not leave anyone for Trump to execute when he returns to office.
Abraham Bonowitz, the executive director of Death Penalty Action, said: "The danger of leaving the death penalty as an available tool for Donald Trump to use cannot be overstated. Donald Trump idolizes dictators and relishes dictator-like power. We are absolutely grateful for what President Biden has done, but we urge him to finish the job. Do not give Trump the power to execute anyone."
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